


Running Away To Sea

by flawedamythyst



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fisherman Dean, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-20
Updated: 2007-07-20
Packaged: 2018-10-16 02:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: If Captain McKendrick hadn't been desperate, he probably wouldn't have hired Dean Enfield. The guy had no experience on trawlers, his employment history was extremely sketchy and he looked like trouble.





	

If Captain McKendrick hadn't been desperate, he probably wouldn't have hired Dean Enfield. The guy had no experience on trawlers, his employment history was extremely sketchy and he looked like trouble - too much of a drifter to cope with several weeks hard work onboard a fishing vessel. But Captain McKendrick needed another crew member fast - the fishing season had already started, and they should have set sail a week ago. Dean at least had enough mechanical experience to help the engineer, even if none of it was with marine engines, and he seemed sincere enough when he said he could follow orders and learn the job quickly. Captain McKendrick thought about having to delay the trip any longer in order to find someone else, exchanged resigned looks with his first mate, Dawson, and hired him.

Some of the crew were dubious to start with as well, but after a few days, when he'd proved himself willing to work and taken the usual new-guy ribbing with grace, they began to give him the benefit of the doubt. A week and a half into the trip, he stayed up all night with Williams, the engineer, working on the generator after it inexplicably died. When he came into the galley next morning, tired and streaked with oil, to announce that it was fixed, there was a cheer. Everyone knew that if it hadn't been fixed, they'd have had to go to back to port to sort it out, delaying the trip even longer. After that, he was generally accepted by most of the crew, especially after the poker night when he won a large chunk of their wages in just a few hands before bowing out.

Still, Captain McKendrick kept a close eye on Dean, as he would any guy on their first trip, and he could tell everything wasn't fine with him. He was the only guy on board without pictures and mementoes of family and friends plastered all over his bunk, and he dodged any questions about his past with practiced ease. He seemed friendly enough and picked up the routines of life onboard a trawler quickly, but Captain McKendrick saw him sitting on the deck sometimes in the evenings, staring out to sea and frowning slightly as if he was trying to work out a particularly difficult math problem.

Captain McKendrick spoke to the engineer, James, about the state of the generator and after being reassured that it wasn't going to fail again, he casually asked him about Dean and how he was doing. James was enthusiastic about Dean's mechanical skills, but when Captain McKendrick turned the conversation to how Dean was fitting in with the crew, his brow wrinkled as if thinking about something other than pistons and oil changes was hard work.

"The crew like him," he said, eventually. "I don't think he's managed to piss anyone off too badly yet." After a couple of weeks on a small boat, in very close living conditions, this was quite an acheivement. "He's a bit quiet sometimes, I guess, but some of the others are loud enough that it comes as a bit of a relief." He shrugged. "I'd say he's doing ok."

Captain McKendrick nodded. James had been on his crew for a long time, and if he thought Dean was doing ok, then he was. He stopped worrying about him - after all, he wouldn't be the first guy trying to escape something in his past by running away to sea - and started concentrating on getting a good catch in.

 

****

 

They did pretty well on that trip - well enough to cover the costs of the late start and turn a bit of profit. They headed back to port down the coast, passing by rocky shores and they were only three nights out from it when Captain McKendrick saw the other side of Dean Enfield. It was a full moon and Captain McKendrick was on deck, standing at the bow and enjoying the calm night. Dean was also on deck, further back, sitting on a hatch cover and staring at the cliffs as they passed by as if they held the answer to life's problems. A few of the other crew were gathered in the stern, enjoying a last cigarette before going to bed.

It started with singing, high-pitched and eerie, floating across the sea to them from the shore. Captain McKendrick searched for the source of it, wondering what could produce such a lovely, hauntingly clear sound. On the clifftop, a naked woman was standing, singing to them as they went by. Captain McKendrick had never seen anyone so beautiful and he yearned to touch her, to feel her pale skin beneath his hands. She seemed to be singing to him alone and looking straight at him so he took a few steps closer, wishing that the sea didn't seperate them. She was bathed in an ethereal and sourceless light, and as she sang she held out an arm, inviting him closer. As if following his thoughts, the trawler turned towards her, and Captain McKendrick smiled.

Suddenly, there was a rush of feet across the deck, and something small and bright flew passed his head, straight at the woman. It nicked her arm, and for an instant Captain McKendrick was outraged that anyone would hurt someone so perfect, then her singing stopped and where she had been was something hideous, straight out of his nightmares. It still had the form of a woman but was covered in green scales and had bedraggled black hair and when it hissed at the trawler, he could see long black fangs.

"Shit," said a voice beside him, and Captain McKendrick turned to see Dean reaching into his boot and pulling out a knife. The creature, perhaps realising its danger, started singing again, but this time it was deeper and more forceful and somehow he could tell it was aimed at Dean. He glanced at him to see Dean's eyes widen as he stood slackly for a moment, the knife forgotten in his hand. Captain McKendrick turned back to the creature to see it had changed again, this time into a tall, dark-haired man who, to the captain's embarrassment, was also stark naked.

"No," said Dean desperately beside him, and then threw the knife straight into the thing's chest. The singing stopped and the man disappeared, leaving the scaled creature, who clawed for a moment at the knife buried in its chest, before gently toppling over backwards.

In an instant, Captain McKendrick realised how close they'd come to the cliffs and how immediate the danger of being wrecked was.

"Hard a port!" he yelled, spinning around and heading for the bridge, passing the crew who had crowded up to the bow. He made it up to the wheelhouse in time to help the helmsman turn the ship away from the rocks at the base of the cliff, then plotted a new course which would take them further out to sea, away from the coast.

As soon as he was sure that they were out of danger, and unlikely to get close enough to the cliffs to run the risk again, he called Dean to his room for an explanation he wasn't sure he wanted.

"It was a siren," said Dean, which was really what Captain McKendrick hadn't wanted him to say - mass hallucination would have been much better. "They lure ships onto rocks by singing," continued Dean.

"I know what a siren is," interrupted Captain McKendrick. "They're not meant to be real though."

Dean gave a little shrug, implying that he couldn't help with that. "There've been three wrecks along that stretch of coast in the last year," he said helpfully. "I figured it was probably a siren."

"You've seen one before?" said Captain McKendrick incredulously.

"A couple of times," said Dean.

Captain McKendrick eyed him closely, looking for signs that he was joking. Sadly, there didn't seem to be any. "And that's why you had the knives."

Dean nodded. "Silver knives," he clarified. "Pretty much the only thing that will take them out."

"Right," said Captain McKendrick, trying to get his head round this.

Dean watched him in silence for a moment, as if trying to gauge his reaction, then said, "I'm going to bed."

Captain McKendrick nodded distractedly, and Dean opened the door to leave. "At the end," said the captain, "it turned into that guy...that was aimed at you, wasn't it?"

Dean didn't answer, just gave him a look that forbade questions on the topic and left, shutting the door firmly behind himself.

 

****

 

Captain McKendrick had never been happier to see his home port. The last few days had been very strange. Everyone had been avoiding talking about the strange creature, and no one knew what to say to Dean - whether to be suspiscious of him, or to thank him. Everyone seemed to have a sudden distrust of the coastline when they came back in towards it, staring at it and searching for any sign that there would be another siren.

After they'd unloaded the catch, everyone was chaffing to get away and see their families again so Captain McKendrick let them go. Dean was the last off, seemingly not in a hurry to go anywhere. Captain McKendrick caught his arm as he started down the gangplank.

"It's traditional for us all to meet up in Sawyer's tonight for a drink," he told him, "usually around eight."

Dean nodded. "Right. I'll see you there."

Captain McKendrick let him go, watching as he walked over to a shiny black classic car and ran his hand down the chassis, checking it was ok. He turned away, back to his room to finish the paperwork so that he could get home to Katherine and the children.

Sawyer's was a fisherman's bar, and Captain McKendrick could tell from the looks that the other crews were giving Dean that at least some of the story had got out. The captain ignored the muttering around him and went straight to the bar, ordering a round for everyone on his crew, same as he always did.

"Heard you had some excitement," said Tom, the bartender, as he took Captain McKendrick's money.

Captain McKendrick shrugged that off. "Well, there's always something, isn't there?"

Tom, who'd worked on trawlers himself before inheriting his father's bar, nodded. "That's the truth."

The crew greeted him warmly as he sat down, although he wasn't sure if that was for him or the beer.

"So, silver knives," Williams was saying to Dean.

Dean shrugged. "Or silver bullets, but I wasn't sure I could smuggle a gun..." his voice trailed off and his face went white, his eyes on the door. Captain McKendrick turned to see the dark-haired man from the cliff staring furiously at Dean, although thankfully fully-clothed this time.

"Jesus" said Dawson, "it's that thing again."

"I thought it was dead," muttered Williams. The whole table grew wary. Dean didn't say anything, but he stood up to face the man as he strode purposefully towards them, his eyes fixed on Dean. There was some worried mutering as he drew close, then, without warning, he punched Dean hard in the face. Dean fell backwards into the table from the force of it, and the rest of the crew immediately sprang to their feet.

"You fucking IDIOT," said the man, his voice shaking with rage, as Dean got back up.

"Hey," said Dawson protectively, "don't mess with him, or we'll all take you on."

"Yeah," agreed Williams, "We're on to you now." He turned to Dean, who was still staring at the man as if he'd seen a ghost. "You got any more knives?"

"No, it's ok," said Dean, "it's not...I know him." His mouth twisted and he added, "and I kinda deserved that."

"Damn straight," said the man, ignoring the threat of a tableful of fishermen ready to pound his ass and focussing on Dean with what Captain McKendrick thought was admirable prescence of mind. "You ever do anything like that again and I'll..." he paused, seemingly too angry to think of a good threat.

"That's why I left," said Dean. "I wasn't going to come back, Sam, I swear."

"You are such an idiot!" said Sam, his voice frustrated, "That's what I'm talking about! Jesus, Dean, you could have been dead! Don't ever run off like that without at least telling me where you're going!"

Dean's brow wrinkled. "Sam, I had to go. After what I did..."

"What _we_ did," interrupted Sam, impatiently. "I was there as well, remember?"

Dean shook his head. "You were drunk."

"So were you!" said Sam, and for a moment Captain McKendrick thought he was going to rupture a blood vessel. "Jesus, Dean, you've got to let me take my share of the blame. Do you really think I'd have let you do that if I hadn't wanted it?"

Dean stared at him for a long moment, as if that had never occured to him. Captain McKendrick realised that the rest of the bar was silent as well, watching the drama and hoping for a fight.

"Maybe you should talk about this outside," he suggested. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he'd been around and he could guess that it wasn't the kind of thing that should be discussed inside a bar full of slightly drunk men, not all of them as liberal-minded as he'd have liked.

Dean glanced around him as if seeing the room for the first time, then jerkily nodded and headed outside without another word. Sam followed close on his heels, and the conversations gradually started up again, as the fishermen disappointedly accepted that the entertainment was over.

Captain McKendrick left after only one drink - he'd promised his daughter he'd be home in time to read a bedtime story for her. Outside, he was amused to see two familiar-looking figures locked in an embrace in the shadows.

"Goodnight, Dean," he called and there was a surprised noise, then the two men stepped apart.

"Uh, goodnight, Captain," said Dean.

Captain McKendrick grinned at him and noticed the way that Sam was still gripping Dean's arm, as if afraid he was going to run off. "I was going to say that you're welcome to sail with us again, but I take it you're going to be busy elsewhere?"

"Yeah, probably," said Dean. Sam kicked him and he corrected himself. "Definitely. Sorry." Sam returned Captain McKendrick's grin, looking smug.

"Have a good evening," said Captain McKendrick, turning away towards his home.

"Yeah, you too," replied Dean.

There was silence behind him as he walked away, then he heard Sam say, "I told you not to worry so much."

"Yeah, yeah," said Dean, "you're always right. Let's get outta here."

Captain McKendrick smiled to himself and went home to his family.

 


End file.
